Matchstick tribute to Titanic (From Daily Echo)
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Dave Reynolds completes his matchstick replica of Titanic
11:40am Friday 20th January 2012 in Heritage News
By Patrick Knox, Senior Reporter
Dave Reynolds' matchstick model of Titanic
HE is already in the Guinness Book of Records for his matchstick modelling marvels.
Retired seafarer David Reynolds has once again taken to his matches to create the ultimate tribute to the world’s most famous liner on the centenary of her sinking.
Model Factfile
• It took 6,050 hours to build
• Eight pots of glue and five scalpel blades were used
• 120,000 matchsticks were used – that’s three miles if each were laid end to end, which is the length of Southampton Water
• It cost £50 to build using headless matches – yet if boxed matches were used it would have cost £1,200
The finishing touches have now been put to his latest fiddly creation, Titanic, which he hopes will be berthed in Southampton’s Sea City being opened in March and could become the showpiece for the Titanic exhibition.
Made up of 120,000 painstakingly cut, glued and slotted matchsticks, his five foot model of RMS Titanic has been finished in time to commemorate the centenary of the doomed ocean liner’s maiden voyage from Southampton.
Retired merchant navy sailor David, 53, from Swaythling, said: “I have done a smaller one but for the anniversary I decided to go large to show off more detail.”
The plans he created for his model follow the original designs and mirrors the construction of the Titanic at Haarland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
He said: “I built the keel all out of matches, then I put on the ribs and frame and then built the ship from there. Each funnel has about 100 matches.
“I would have built it bigger but I might not be able to fit it in my car.”
Although the model is impressive it is dwarfed in size by David’s gigantic scale model of an oil rig with which he broke the record for the world’s biggest matchstick model.
At 21ft long, 12ft wide and 7ft high it was so large it took David 15 years to finish and used some 4.1million matchsticks.
Find out more about Titanic
You can find out more about Titanic and the disaster's impact on Southampton with the Daily Echo.
Throughout the coming months ahead of the centenary in April, we will be showcasing unique content in our Titanic mini-site.
In the meantime, you can discover key sites across the city relating to the tragedy, the latest news relating to the ship or even find out some of the key facts behind the vessel, her demise and the people who perished and survived.
Comments(10)
southy
says...
1:01pm Fri 20 Jan 12
Shoong
says...
1:16pm Fri 20 Jan 12
Vix1
says...
2:03pm Fri 20 Jan 12
Goldenwight
says...
3:13pm Fri 20 Jan 12
Scrutinizer
says...
4:27pm Fri 20 Jan 12
IronLady2010
says...
6:29pm Fri 20 Jan 12
bobbyboy
says...
8:22pm Fri 20 Jan 12
opera phantom
says...
10:58pm Fri 20 Jan 12
Vix1 wrote:Vixi
Wow, that is amazing!! My 12 year old daughter would love to see this, she is Titanic mad and is interested in anything to do with the ship! Nice to see something positive on this site for a change too!!!
It's nice to hear of a 12 year old child
interested in the Titanic.
Just as a point of interest, does she
know that one of the Titanic's
Stacks (Funnels) was false?
This is often a mistake made in some paintings, when smoke is shown
coming out of all four stacks.
harvester
says...
3:26pm Thu 2 Feb 12
a and e says...
12:24pm Fri 20 Jan 12